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As we move closer to our long awaited return to Europe, I have started work on a new project that is designed to give me a little frame of reference in my photography, as well as the opportunity to hone my skills in portraiture.

I am still forming the structure of my ‘brief’ but essentially I will be seeking out other lucky women whose pursuit of creative lives I find inspiring. By sharing their story through photography and a few words, my hope would be to inspire others in the process.

In order to work out how I might organise this project, I needed to clarify my objective. If I were to ask myself 'why I am wanting to do this?' my first response would be that I would like to set myself a task that is optimistic in its outlook. I basically want to practice my craft using a method that will affect my subjects and audience in a positive way. I also want to share the luckiest woman alive title with others because the idea of inclusiveness resonates very strongly with me. Sharing the fun of an experience is always better than doing it alone and I really like the way this undertaking will involve collaboration and offer the possibility of mutually beneficial outcomes.

Thinking about this idea has also led me to start questioning what might actually prompt someone to label themselves as lucky. I know for myself that, inspired by my self-appointed luckiest man alive, I decided eight years ago that taking ownership of the luckiest woman alive title (starting with my email address) was a way of acknowledging my own good fortune, especially at meeting my best and most beloved friend. When I asked him years later what had been his reason for choosing luckiest man alive as his email address (which he admittedly did before he met me) he said he had initially wanted to give a grateful nod to his lot in life. He then added that he also believed a little bit in the idea of ensuring a self-fulfilling prophecy… something like: ‘if you say something often enough, it will eventually be true’ which is reassuring because that is a maxim I also try to live by.

And if repeatedly declaring my good intentions so that they somehow eventuate is one of my guiding principles, then another is that it is good to surround yourself by the type of people whose most positive traits are what you aspire to demonstrate in yourself. In the same way that positive minds attract other up-tempo thinkers, creative and productive souls must surely do the same. So maybe this is my opportunity to manifest a digital sorority – a collective of creative women who exhibit some of the traits I admire most. Creativity, generosity of spirit, love, fun and intelligence all gathered under the luckiest woman alive banner. What could possibly be the harm in that?

So watch out for my upcoming portrait series… let the festival of lucky women commence!

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Because it seemed to sum up the place I am in right now, today I decided to repost the final blog post to appear on www.bonmardi.com right here on luckiest woman alive:

Welcome to the post-grad me! As I file away my student card and start the post grad journey into employment, I have decided to suspend my blog posts on bon mardi and amalgamate my professional site with my blog so they can be found in one handy place. So feel free to trip on over to my newly renovated website: www.luckiestwomanalive.com , ** *take a look around and sign up to receive news of my design exploits in this next, slightly thrilling, phase of my career.

Thanks very much for following - as I write this post I note that bon mardi has attracted over 20,000 views in four years which is pretty cool. Your interest has been a happy accident on my road to creative fulfilment. And one thing I have learnt in the last four years is that happy accidents can be the catalyst for amazing things.

The other things I have learnt? In taking on two degrees at this stage of my life, I have learnt that I continue to be capable of doing anything I really want to do and that photography, as well as being rewarding career and pass-time in itself, can also be a a treasure trove of inspiration for many, many other areas of work. Armed with my various cameras, I look forward at the possibilities of a career in design, academia, curatorial roles, communication, making art or craft... maybe even all of the above. And these are just the tip of the iceberg... it really is all on me. I have never felt more full of potential.

Finally, I have learnt that I AM the luckiest woman alive - because I am surrounded by love which informs all my creativity and makes each of my days that little bit easier to get through. So to those whom I love and love me:

Those of you who have followed me on www.bonmardi.com will know that I have asked you to move over here to my website to find out what happened after I graduated... what Katie did after school, if you will. Feel free to continue to visit my student blog - I will be leaving it up indefinitely if only to act as a reference for my future projects as well as provide some context for the approaches I take in my design work.

This is my next foray into blogging. Where I will document the processes and inspiration for both my professional and private work. I hope to continue to benefit from the practice of blogging as well as explain some of my choices.

I also intend to return to some of my previous work - to deconstruct and possibly remake - acknowledging one of my most heartfelt credo's: I am never finished. On that note, I will finish this post by reaffirming my design manifesto, as written in October 2014: